Fred Posner dot com

Ricardo was a great friend.

Normally, I look forward to celebrating 2 days every year — my birthday and Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a religious event for me. The combination of family and friends gathered to celebrate thanks brings me more satisfaction than any other time of the year. Normally I reflect on the past year and use those thoughts to write a special “Thanksgiving Message.” It truly is my favorite day of the year.

Followed closely to Thanksgiving, but for completely selfish reasons, is my birthday. I just love to selfishly enjoy 1 day a year where I can eat what I want, go where I want, and truly put the priority on me. Sometimes, the celebrations provide amazing memories. Others are filled with different emotions. Typically, I would head down to South Florida and enjoy Paglia e Fieno with my parents — my favorite meal cooked by my favorite chef (aka Dad). With Ricardo’s passing, this year would be one of those “different” days.

After feeling (for obvious reasons) very, very down for a few days, I rented a big ol’ 6×12 trailer from U-Haul and had my good buddy Joe help me load the King Size mattress into the rather tight accommodations (let’s just be thankful there were no cameras). I headed north Saturday morning and was a little nervous about pulling the trailer through the mountains. Surprisingly, I averaged more than 13 mpg the entire trip and the truck handled very well. I do like my truck. The speed was slow, and other than spending a few minutes catching up with Patrick (at a gas station in Tennessee), the trip was uneventful.

Sunday morning, Mikey came over and helped Yeni and me unload the truck. It went very quickly, but OMFG it is beyond cold here for October. The sleeveless shirt I was wearing in Florida became entirely inappropriate in Michigan. We celebrated my birthday at a Chinese buffet and enjoyed a great cookie-cake that Yeni had gotten for me (complete with a frosted spider-man riding a frosted Harley).

Monday witnessed me getting an oil change where the mechanic had to do a double-take on my engine coolant (apparently he had never seen non-winter engine coolant). A quick coolant flush later, and I was on my way.

It feels great to be here. I’m hoping to have about another week or so left on the Harley before I have to winterize her… and that’s all I have to say about that.

Truck and trailer in Tenn

Family, Harley-Davidson, Yeni Ann Arbor, Fred Posner, Harley-Davidson, road trip, spider-man, Yeni

My good friend was murdered this morning during a robbery. The only word that comes to mind is devastated.

Rest In Peace my friend

Family

GAINESVILLE, FL — So for the last few weeks, I’ve been working hard to get the house “ready to sell.” With the help of Orlando, Linda, and Richard (aka J4 Cruisers), the kitchen, master bedroom, and living room have been painted. When no wood flooring was available to repair the living room I had two options — (a) replace the entire wood floor (over 1000 sq ft) or (b) carpet the living room.

I chose option B; and then replaced the carpet in all bedrooms as well. Now all carpeting in the home match; which is nice. There’s a bunch of clean-up left, as well as touching up any wall that needs it. Actually, the touch-ups require a repaint since the color of the paint is slightly darker.

I’ve pressure washed most of the house and need to finish that up and maybe even give it another quick clean.

The goal is to rent a trailer on Thursday, load it up on Friday, and then head to Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Rant Ann Arbor, Gainesville, paint, realtor, remodel, road trip, wood floor, Yeni

Cartoon Fred

There’s a great site out there where you can create a cartoon avatar of yourself — it’s called Face your Manga (it’s an Italian company). Anyway, with this site, we now have Mr. Cartoon Fred.

Cartoon Fred meet the world. World, meet Cartoon Fred. Cartoon Fred isn’t really angry… he’s just drawn that way.

Miscellaneous Fred Posner

Screen capture from Freds iPhone

We know that I love Zippo lighters. If the economy was based on Zippo lighters, I’d be a rich man — but alas… that’s discussion for another rant. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah… Zippo lighters.

Well, my new favorite iPhone app is the “Zippo Lighter” program. What does it do? It’s a virtual zippo lighter. You choose the lighter you want and using the iPhone’s motion detection you flick the lighter open. Light it as normal, and when done, flick it closed.

The distinctive Zippo sound? Yes, it’s there.

When you tilt the lit Zippo, the flame responds. Very fun to play with if you’re a zippo fan like me.

Quick Tip — To take a screen shot from your iPhone, simultaneously press and release the home and sleep buttons.

Zippo iPhone, Zippo

Yellow Crowbar, Utility Knife…

Punk bands from the 80’s?

Spackle, Measuring Fee…

Things you bought at Home Depot

And we have a winner.

Home Depot has carpet marked significantly lower than my previous estimate. They are running a 199 whole home installation (plus 15 bucks to move furniture)… and promised to have it done before next Friday. I’m as optimistic as life allows.

Now it’s off to Larry’s Subs to join Mr. Armstrong in a late night meal.

Did I mention how into Twitter I am lately? Crazy.

Rant Gainesville, house, remodel, twitter, wood floor

First… let me tell you how big the Spiders are in Gainesville. They are what I like to call HFS big… (Holy Fucking Shit Big). Except for Peter Parker, I’ve never liked spiders… but at least growing up they were managable annoyances. Spiders in the South are large and in-charge. They are huge… beyond big… they have zip codes and in some counties can even vote. Anyway, the point here is (1) not liking spiders + (2) HFS big = scared Fred.

So last night, Mr. Big Spider trespasses into the home and decides that contrary to Darwin, survival is not important. Only importance is to run quickly to Fred. Well, knowing what you know about Fred and spiders, the reaction was that Fred quickly left his chair and went for a book. But, alas, the move has left Fred bookless. With no immediate weapons available, I did start to panic. (Digression: Why switch from 3rd to 1st person? Why not, it’s a rant y’all) Anyways… oh yes… weapons. So, I thought the shotgun was overkill… but I actually had to think about it. In the meantime, Mr. Aggressive Spider (yes his first name was Aggressive) decided he’d run to my new location.

Well that was that. The fight or flight response kicks in — and let’s face it… fatty isn’t flighty. So needless to say, Crocs are not the best weapon against spiders. Their grooved sole allows the spider to do whatever ninja moves they know to avoid death. So, I switched to jump and smear. And thus, Mr. Aggressive Spider is no more. Yeni wasn’t happy the spider was killed (apparently they are good luck?) but I explained my beliefs… if a spider is outside, no problem. Inside? Penalty for trespass is death. But, I’m sure he left many children to revenge his death, so… there’s always that. But today, at least one small victory is mine.

Speaking of not winning, the carpet estimate yesterday was around $1700. And… at $1700 I’d have to remove the rest of the living room wood floor myself. Ugh. So, today I’m headed to the Home Depot to see what kind of specials they have.

Rant, Yeni Gainesville, house, remodel, spiders, wood floor

Well, there are three main rooms that need to be painted. The Kitchen, the Master Bedroom, and the Living Room.

The Kitchen was mostly a second coat. The lovely former real estate agent had her “handy man” paint the room, however they did at best what I’d call “half assed” work. Half-assed at best. So, I started painted and the realization of my painting skills became immediately apparent. I do not paint well. I do not paint well… at all.

Orlando and Linda came over and — BAM! It was like watching my parents paint. That there Orlando can sure paint him a room I tell you. Anyway, in no time the kitchen was done. My current plan is a room a day, and the kitchen was yesterday.

Tonight, Richard, Orlando, and Linda headed over and we tackled the bedroom. Well, Linda yelled at the TV during the debate and we tackled the painting. Prime, Paint, and actually looks good. After everyone left I finished up the trim and put all the face plates back on the walls.

Tomorrow… I paint Linda’s successfully spackled living room wall. Ooooh… and the carpet man should be by as well.

Rant Gainesville, house, paint, realtor

GAINESVILLE, FL — So I’m back in Gainesville trying to get the house ready for selling. I had chosen a realtor who made some amazing decisions that would be sure to get me that “quick” sale. Here’s the short story:

Apparently my built-in entertainment center was something that made the house un-sellable, and according to the realtor impossible for anyone to imagine their furniture in my house. So, Ms. Realtor and her hired handyman remove the entertainment center, leaving some big ol’ holes in the wall and about 40 sq. ft. of hole in the wood floor. They start painting over the kitchen, because apparently the house should be a uniform color.

So, after about 2 weeks of seeing concrete in my wood floor, I start to stress. And stress hard. I call her and explain that I don’t know how the house will be ready for the deadline of 3 days. She goes nuts and literally starts yelling at me. Long story short — she says she cannot work with a client that won’t give her unconditional trust. And then she’s goes buh bye. Never gives me back the key… nada.

So after changing the locks (nice unexpected cost), I go to look for wood floor. No one makes the matching parque… NO ONE. I called Armstrong / Hartco (the manufacturer) who informs me they have discontinued the product and have not had inventory for at least 5 years. YAY!!!!

So, I’m now looking for carpet pricing and finishing painting. Trying to smile… thinking basically of Little Nemo and trying to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

Gators, Rant Gainesville, house, little nemo, paint, wood floor